When you exercise, you need to remember that it’s not something you do once in a while. You have to eat well to keep your body energized and able to tackle life’s every day tasks. For the best results when working out, it’s important to eat healthily. Don’t just focus on what you eat before and after a workout – for example, for cardio workouts you should also make sure you’re getting some protein in your diet too. When deciding how many carbs and protein you need to consume, it’s crucial to take into account whether you’re doing cardio or weights. Many people find that a meal within an hour before a workout works best. If you plan to work at a low intensity level, you should keep your pre-workout meal down to 200 calories or so. If you plan for a high intensity workout prescription, your meal should be between 4,000 and 5,000 calories.
Those doing cardio will want to consume a mix of 1/3 carbs and 2/3 protein. Doing so means you’ll have more energy, due the energy boost from carbs – while the protein will stop your muscle from getting fatigued.
For resistance work, you’ll want to eat 1/2 of your plate as carbs and the other half as protein. This will optimize your energy levels and help avoid muscle soreness while you’re training.
Eating after you exercise is as important as it is before. When you have exercised, whether this be cardio or resistance, you will have depleted your energy stores in the form of glycogen stores. As a result of this, replenishing these reserves with food becomes vitally important to maintain optimal performance and avoid injury. The brain can rely on glycogen as it’s main source of fuel, so if you don’t replace it after exercise your body will start breaking down muscle tissue into amino acids. This means that your brain won’t be getting the energy it needs and you’ll also lose muscle.
It’s true that most resistance exercise will cause some muscle tissue breakdown – this is necessary to stimulate growth. What your muscles do after a workout is start repairs for any micro tears, which means you’re on your way to success. After you’ve finished a cardio session, you’ll need to have lots of protein. This is because your muscles can break down again in order to create fuel and this is the time when they are most able to recover. Ideally you will rest for around 20 minutes before consuming carbs, ideally those with a high glycemic index (GI) such as rice or pasta. Rice, oatmeal, whole wheat pasta, and northern fruits are all tasty sources of the carbs you need. It’s also a good idea to eat about 30-50 grams of carbs that contain these types so around 5-10 minutes after your workout.
Once you have finished a resistance workout, it’s important to take in some protein and carbohydrate. Unlike cardio exercise, resistant workouts breakdown muscle tissue.
You’ll need to get plenty of protein when you’re recovering from an injury, because it will help build up and repair the tears in the injured area of muscle so that they can heal and make the area stronger. Carbs will not only replace lost muscle glycogen, but also help other macronutrients get into muscle cells so protein can be synthesized.
After resistance exercise, you should wait at least 30 minutes before spitting to give your muscles the ability to recover faster. Waiting will help them repair themselves and remove any waste products by transfering blood from your stomach.
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